There’s no ‘I’ in Harbaugh

In his effort to promote a team-first approach, Jim Harbaugh acknowledged earlier this season that he often takes pains to avoid the pronoun “I.”

As a result, a Harbaugh sentence routinely begins like this, “Been really pleased …” or “Thought that was a key play …”

It is a small gesture that hints at Harbaugh’s larger message of sacrifice and selflessness, a spread-the-credit-around attitude that’s clearly caught on in the locker room.

On Monday, Harbaugh showed even more powerfully how serious he is about this selflessness stuff. Not because he left a word out of a sentence, but because of the words he added while discussing the impact of special teams coordinator and assistant head coach Brad Seely.

“He just does a great job and I’ve almost got the feeling that — OK, we’ve got him now, we’ve got coach Seely now and at some point, some smart organization is going to hire him away from us,” Harbaugh said. “We’ll be playing against him, and that probably can be said for, the same with (offensive coordinator) Greg Roman and (defensive coordinator) Vic Fangio.”

Asked if he had “three head coaches in waiting” on his staff, Harbaugh said, “I believe that. Been around a lot of coaches, seen a lot of coaches both as a player and as an assistant coach and as a head coach. There is no doubt in my mind those are three great coaches.”

Given the 49ers’ stunning success, it’s possible Seely, Roman and Fangio will have a chance to land higher-profile gigs, if interested, after the season.

Last year, Roman interviewed for college head-coaching positions at Vanderbilt and Pittsburgh. Roman interviewed for the Pittsbugh job on Jan. 9, two days after Harbaugh was hired as the 49ers’ coach.

As for Seely, in his 22nd year as an NFL special teams coach, a parallel can be drawn to Harbaugh’s brother, John.

John Harbaugh spent 19 years coaching special teams at the college (Cincinnati, Indiana) and NFL level (Philadelphia) before the Ravens hired him as their head coach in 2008.

According to this Sports Illustrated story, John Harbaugh got his long-awaited break, in part, due to an unsolicited call Patriots coach Bill Belichick made to Ravens owner Steve Biscotti, advising him to hire Harbaugh.

With that in mind, Jim Harbaugh is clearly aware of the power a job reference can have when it comes from a well-respected NFL coach.

And his unsolicited references for his well-respected assistants Monday showed that, yeah, he is pretty serious about this selflessness stuff.